This time, I‘ll try to get a spotlight to the most controversial topic of advising the leader, An'jhali and the following Votes

History and development of the Advice boxOriginally, there were no ranks and all possible ideas and suggestions rained down on poor An'jhali and as you can imagine, it was quite overwhelming.

Therefore the ranks got introduced, making it possible to filter the flood of advice a little by diverting most of them to ranked members, leaving general purposes to be addressed to the Illhar.

The purpose of the AdviceThe purpose of the Advice is to contribute to the clan's activities and give An'jhali a general direction of where the clan shall go. There are many confusions and opposing opinions about the usage of it, so this Guide will -not- tell you what is wrong or right, but try to aim for a general guideline and better understanding for the system.

About advising the LeaderWriting an advice sounds easier than it is actually is. There are some things to consider since you need to keep in mind that advice will be interpreted by the Game Master (Kern). Furthermore, the advice will be interpreted in a way that will be understandable in game to An‘jhali and have the ability to influence her personality significantly.

Advising is not only a right you have, but also a responsibility!

General things about advises

Try to refrain from telling others how "stupid"/"useless"/"counter-productive" their actions might be. Also please do not offend those who advise early. Maybe they have considered their advice in advance, maybe they just had a flash of inspiration. The subject may also have been debated on the forums. If you strongly disagree, open a counter-advice and/or just don't vote for him.

Advise ManualIt is possible to enter two kinds of advice:1.Advise our leader2.Volunteer for work

Since Point 2 is quite obvious (Your character volunteers for a certain task) this beginner's guide will concentrate on the first point.

Types of advisesThere are many types of advises, and they can be collected into a few "categories", as there are:- General advice, offer suggestions or show support for a decision from An'jhali in a political matter (i.e. Saying yes/no to an alliance or an offer given to the clan)- Asking questions: i.e. ask An'jhali about the past, the old city or other things that may be necessary for her personal development or further decisions, or more importantly, to ask her opinion on something- Counter-advise, to directly counter a player's action (i.e.: "No, we better move to the right, the left side is not safe")

Volunteer actionsA Volunteer action is basically exactly what it's name make you think it does.Your character will go and to whatever have been described in this.So please - use it with caution!If your character is in a job (like healer or engineer) your character will spend the entire turn doing this and won't be available for the Ranked any more.

As a little help, maybe you want to take a look at the

Personal Check list:

Take your timeThe hardest part of all. Hasty advise (So called knee-jerk advising) can cause more trouble then help since clarifications afterwards are simply not possible. The advice itself will be interpreted by Kern, not your clarifications in the forums or shout box.Giving enough time to yourself thinking your advise trough thoroughly will usually reveal the most minor mistakes regarding the sense and wording of it, major flaws and possible consequences for An'jhali and the clan may need some more time. There is, however a deadline up to what time you can enter a advise. Actually this deadline is (depending on your time zone) Monday.

Try to avoid advice that interferes directly or indirectly with a RankThat's the second hardest part. Will your advise direct (for example) the Warriors to a certain task? Maybe it would be more wise to give your suggestion in the ranked's thread instead, your voice will not remain unheard. These threads were introduced to take your suggestions and direct their people (in our example the Warriors) to the desired direction after all.Open communications to a clan is the Ambassador's job, collecting informations and exploring the Scouts job, protection of Ther'avare belongs to the Warriors, healing wounded are the domain of the Healers, etc..

The wording is essentialDon't be too vague or specific, try to keep a balance. There is a big problem where multiple advises that share the same core, but each of them wants to stress out a different part of it: This usually results in either a wide spread of the votes for it, making most or even all of them fail in comparison to an opposing advise.Also, the space for the Advise is limited. There are only 75 letters to write your advise.Thats: "___________________________________________________________________________"this long

Respect the other Members Taking an advise that is being discussed in the forums by someone else and making it an advise yourself does not only show a great deal of disrespect to this person but only damages the will to share their thoughts before posting them. Shouldn't decisions be made by the clan as whole? Being a "Lone Wolf" will really not be helpful here.

Screen time versus contributionAlthough there is no way and/or intention to prohibit such advises, it is evident that "appearing in the comic" is a main reason for some advises.They are done either by doing a advice created to "Ask a ranked about something" (Which as well could have happened into their thread) or written as personal opinions and remarks like "I like your new hair style, lady An'jhali".Those advises are widely considered as "Not necessary" and bear the great danger of taking utterly needed votes from other serious things that needed to be decided.At the end, your personal discipline is asked here. No one will and can stop you from advising, neither is it anyone's right to try. It's your freedom... and responsibility

Meta-Knowledge

Odd'anna wrote:Meta-Knowledge is things you have learned outside of your characters setting (the PTP comic itself) like the moonless age manga, the forums, or shoutbox.

When posting an advice always remember that you are playing a character that knows little more than what is mentioned in the PTP comic.

Consider the presenceNo matter what you advise, it will be your character doing and saying so. Being too blunt or unfriendly can result in a according reaction of An'jhali[/color]

What follows inevitably to a made advice? Right:

VotesAs it is everyone's freedom and privilege to post an Advice, it also is your privilege and your responsibility to vote for them. For this, there naturally are some hints of how to do so too, more in a general matter then really a guide.

Vote responsiblyYour vote may make an advise happen or not. So be sure you can stand up to your decisions later.

Don't be hasty or feel urged to voteNo one can tell you at what point and for what advise you have to vote (unless the deadline of Monday night, at what point Votes will be taken by Kern and used to make the script for the next update). Decide on your own agenda and what -You- think is the right course.

Voting timeThe timing of when to vote is another thing you might keep in mind.It could be wise to wait until Sunday or even Monday to give others the time to plan their advises and give you the opportunity to choose from all the advises made and not only those that where present at Friday. Voting at the day the Leader archive updates also robs you from the possibility to counter-vote something that's not in your convenience

Taruna Tei'kaliath - Former Warmaster - 2nd Tir'ay Champ (Warr.)Family NimaraidhBecause inside of everyone of us is a warriorWhose courage is like a swordBut the biggest weapon is his heart(Silbermond - Krieger des Lichts)